SOME SPRINGBOK TONGUE TWISTERS

Taupo Times, Volume XII, Issue 52, 6 July 1965, Page 3

SOME SPRINGBOK TONGUE

TWISTERS

New Zealand Rugby supporters will find a few tongue twisters in the names of the current South African touring team. For their benefit, the pronunciation of the hardest— with rough phonetic equivalents — are: — W. J. Mans (wing threequarter) is "Munce," and his fellow winger, C. J. C. Cronje, is "Cron-Yeah." The team's doctor, the Western Province centre G. S. Brynard, has his name pronounced "Brainart," while fellow centre F. du T. Roux has the unlikely nickname of Mannetjies, which means literally "little man," and which is pronounced Man-eke-eez, with the emphasis on the middle syllable. The man whose name is apt to be mispronounced more than any other is the big Orange Free State lock forward C. P. Goosen, known as "Goose" to his team-mates. His name starts with a slight throat clearing sound somewhere between a "K" and an "H," with an "oo-sin" following. A. Janson, the Capetown policeman, has his name pronounced in the Scandinavian fashion as "Yanson." C. G. P. van Zyl, the veteran Orange Free State front row prop, who has played

for his State 89 times, has his name pronounced "fin Sail," with the emphasis on the "Sail." J. F. K. Marais (to rhyme with Calais) and P. H. Botha "Boo- (as in book)to," should be easy enough. The Christian name of the manager, Mr Kobus Louw, is pronounced "Coobis." ■ "^1